NY Consulate celebrates Vishwa Hindi Divas

NEW YORK: The need to popularize Hindi was discussed at length at the Vishwa Hindi Divas celebration at the Consulate General of India, New York on March 30.

About 150 guests including academics working in the field of Hindi promotion in New York and New Jersey, Hindi poets and litterateurs, representatives of the mainstream and ethnic media and people interested in Hindi language and Indian culture attended the event.

Consul General of India Amb. Prabhu Dayal, in his opening remarks, laid emphasis on the need to popularize Hindi language and exhorted the guests to begin the process by speaking in Hindi at home. He read out the message of Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh for the occasion.

The first session of the day-long event dwelt on the activities being undertaken by various institutions to popularize the language. Ashok Ojha, a noted journalist spoke about workshops conducted by the Vishva Yuva Sansthan to enthuse children of Persons of Indian origin to learn Hindi language. He also gave a snap shot of the activities undertaken by the individuals and associations in the Tri-State area as also about the US government-funded program called Startalk that supports intensive summer programs to promote Hindi and Indian culture in the US.

Ambalika Mishra, also a veteran radio journalist, spoke about the activities of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in the propagation of Hindi language.

Hariet Lengel and Nooriya Puri, both Hindi students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan recited their own creative work on the occasion. Television presenters at ITV, a local Indian channel, Geeta Setia and Ashok Vyas engaged the guests with their composition ‘Shabd Mere Meet’ – a dialogue that emphasized the importance of use of appropriate Hindi lexicon in daily life.

The second session was dedicated to rendition of poems of eminent Hindi poets. While Prof. Susham Bedi recited works of Bhavani Prasad Mishra, Prof Anil Prabha Kumar indulged the audience with the works of Dharamvir Bharti.

The evening concluded with recital of satirical poems of Sharad Joshi by Anoop Bhargava.